Muscling in

Belfast's Hercules brewery, home of the Yardsman beers, has featured sporadically on the beer shelves in Dublin. I hadn't seen their beer in several years when I got a surprise in the beer aisle of Dunnes of all places: two new ones, in cans. Of course I purchased.

It's always been quite a tradition-driven brewery, and I was wary about what they'll do with NE IPA. Theirs is 5% ABV, lightly hazy but very much orange. The aroma is orange too: the candied peel side of it, which is fresh, but promises bitterness to come. The bitterness which materialises in the flavour isn't fruity but quite mineral and hard, like aspirin. This bangs up against a sweet orange cordial and candy effect. While it's not hot or dreggy, it's a bit of a mess, flavourwise, pulling in too many different directions at once. It's definitely not how this style is supposed to be done.

If the New England is as bitter as a rye pale ale, what's the rye pale ale going to be like? I poured TARA (Tropical American Rye Ale) carefully. In fact I had to, because it's very highly carbonated. This one too is 5% ABV, and a very murky shade of amber. I detected no aroma to speak of, while the flavour only offers a very basic mix of grain, pepper and citrus. There's also a strange resinous funk hovering in the background. It's all a bit dirty and flabby, lacking precision. I'm not sure what I was meant to be tasting, but there wasn't enough of it to give this proper character.

I think Hercules has overstepped its mark here. These taste like what happens when a brewery built to make stouts, red ales and blondes tries a style, or two, that they're simply not set up for. The result might fit the bill on technicalities, but don't have the beatings of the breweries who are good at it, and Ireland isn't short of those.